Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Akron responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
157 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | -20.6% | |
| 2024 | 48 | +77.8% | |
| 2025 | 33 | -31.2% |
* Well below Akron's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Akron departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 3.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Akron mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 80.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 1.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Akron sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 121,723 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45,000 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,000 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,300 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,200 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,200 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 1,000 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 866 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 31.1 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Akron. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Akron.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.